Galkayo hospital “desperate for supplies”

28 Jan 28, 2010 - 7:53:40 AM



NAIROBI, 28 January 2010 (IRIN) - Galkayo Hospital in northern Somalia, once a large, fully equipped referral facility, has become a shadow of its former self since the collapse of the central government in 1991, according to medical staff.

"The hospital is for all practical purposes closed. We have nothing. It lacks basic equipment to treat even small injuries," Abdullahi Hirsi Jestro, a doctor, told IRIN.

Jestro and other medical staff have started a campaign to re-open the hospital.

It is the only public health facility in north Galkayo, in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, he said, adding that the most needy were now unable to access medical care.

There are several private clinics in the town but they are beyond the financial reach of most, he said. "Almost 90 percent cannot afford to go to a private clinic," he said.

The campaign, Jestro added, aimed to help the most vulnerable in the town - "displaced women, children and elderly and the very poor. Those are the ones this hospital is meant to help," he told IRIN.

The operating theatre is just one of the facilities in the 70-bed hospital that needs to be re-equipped. "Almost all departments from the children's wing to the maternity ward need [supplies]," said Maimun Farah, the hospital director.

"We don’t even have IV fluid," she said. The doctors were there "but without the proper equipment and the medicines, they are useless”.

She urged international aid agencies to help. "We need all the help we can get, particularly in the provision of the more expensive equipment and supplies."

Jestro said the hospital buildings were in fair shape and most of the local doctors were committed to offering their services. "All we need now is to raise funds for the equipment, the drugs and the general staff."

The town's business community has pledged to help but that was not enough. "We are appealing to our brothers and sisters in the diaspora to contribute generously to this endeavour."

Increased insecurity

Galkayo, which is home to thousands of displaced people, has in the past few months suffered increased insecurity, with a rise in explosions and fatalities, blamed by locals on the displaced who have fled fighting to seek refuge in the town.

Halimo Jama, 45, went to the hospital seeking help. She had a miscarriage, which led to severe bleeding. "I have nowhere else to go. I cannot afford a private doctor, so I came here."

She said the doctors had examined her but now she had to look for the medicine. “I don’t know how I will find the money.”

The UN estimates that at least 1.5 million Somalis are internally displaced while 3.7 million require humanitarian aid.

Source: IRIN